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This article's content is marked as Mature The page Tara Carpenter contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature articles are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | I still prefer the Babadook. | „ |
| ~ Tara after finishing off Amber Freeman. |
| “ | Real great parenting job by the way. | „ |
| ~ Tara angrily taunting Detective Bailey after he, Ethan, and Quinn are revealed as the New York Ghostface killers. |
| “ | Now die a f-cking virgin. | „ |
| ~ Tara before supposedly killing Ethan Kirsch. |
Tara Carpenter is a major character in the Scream franchise.
While home alone, the "elevated horror" fan becomes the first target of the 2022 Legacy Killings. Despite this, she survives, an inverse to the tradition of the previous four film openings.
Her survival is intentional, however. She is lured as live bait for her estranged, elder sister Sam Carpenter. Sam returns and reveals she is actually her half-sister (maternally), as Sam is original Ghostface, Billy's daughter. The revelation caused Tara's biological father to abandon them both (when Tara was around 8). The estranged sisters put the past behind them to survive the 25th anniversary killings, where Tara's Woodsboro High friendship group are suspects.
Tara's life is also saved by original legacy survivor, Dewey Riley, who sacrifices his life to save her. Her Asthma condition and required inhaler become a key element to the film's climax. Her best friend, Amber Freeman, and Sam's boyfriend, both a secret romantic couple, worked together to plan the honorary requel murders. Tara kills Amber in revenge.
One year after the 2022 murders, Tara moves to New York City for college where she is followed by Sam shortly after. Tara has since cut off her mother after she cut off Sam and Sam is now overprotective of Tara, must to her dismay. Tara wants nothing than to just go back to a normal life and even starts a relationship with Chad. However, a new Ghostface killer soon begins targeting them. They are eventually unmasked to be Wayne Bailey, father of Richie and his kids, and Richie's siblings, Quinn Bailey and Ethan Landry, who all want revenge against Sam for killing Richie.
She was portrayed by Jenna Ortega, who also played Harley Diaz in Stuck in the Middle, Brooklynn in Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, and Wednesday Addams and her ancestor Goody Addams in Wednesday, Phoebe Atwell in The Babysitter: The Killer Queen, and Astrid Deetz in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Biography[]
Background[]
Tara was born to Mr. Carpenter and Christina Carpenter on December 14, 2002 and grew up adoring her older sister, Sam, who is 5 years older than her.
In mid-late December 2010, Sam was 13 and discovered that their legal father was not her biological father, making Sam and Tara maternal half-siblings.
As a result of exposing this information, Tara's father left the family that night. Sam then eventually went down a downward spiral for the next approximate 5 year period (almost 6 years most likely), eventually abandoning her family.
She allegedly left on her 18th birthday according to Amber at the bar, but it is likely to be when she was almost (or turned) 19, sometime in 2016, as the fifth film occurs in late-2021, five years after she left.
It is possible Amber, who is later revealed to be the eighth Ghostface killer, said she left as soon as she turned 18 to exaggerate Sam's flawed qualities to arise suspicion in her from her friends.
2022 Woodsboro Legacy Murders[]
Almost 25 years after the original Woodsboro Massacre and 11 years after the Second Woodsboro Murders, Tara is a young, 18-year-old teenager. She is under 3 months shy of her 19th birthday. As a legal adult, she was left alone at the Carpenter Residence while her mother Christina was at a conference in London. Tara is shown texting on her phone with her seemingly best friend Amber about coming over while her mother's away, ultimately convincing her by stating that the liquor cabinet is unlocked.
She gets a call on the landline from a man at 9:27pm on Thursday, 23rd September 2021. The man identifies himself as "Charlie" (possible Easter egg reference to the Stab 8 Flamethrower Ghostface, an adaptation of the sixth revealed Ghostface killer, Charlie Walker), a friend of her mother's from "group". She finds the wording of "group" curious, and ponders to know whether it is drug (NA or Narcotics Anonymous) or alcoholism-affiliated (AA or Alcoholics Anonymous).
Tara casually speaks with the man, who has a calm, friendly and husky voice. In a friendly way, he reveals that her mother said she likes horror movies, and who then claims that her mother's favorite is especially the 1998 film Stab, which is based on the original 1996 massacre, and then proceeds to ask Tara the traditional question of what Tara's favorite scary movie is (in a subvert way by alleging her mother asked them). Tara answers honestly about her genre being elevated horror and the man disregards this as boring, and proceeds to ask if she's ever seen Stab, which she confirms having seen once, as the man goes on to claim how she lives in Woodsboro and doesn't know it despite it being allegedly Tara's mother's favorite.
Tara then goes along with the conversation and eventually the man asks Tara about remembering the beginning of the movie, as Tara answers with how they all started with a kill scene (meta reference to the franchise and the Stab movies) and who then sinisterly switches to the traditional voice and narrates the tradition of the girl at home alone, answering the wrong phone number, and talking with a killer who makes her play and game, and then asks Tara how if she wants to play a game, and reveals he knows her name at the end, despite Tara never having told him. She hangs up and looks outwards in fear, as she begins to close her curtains, as well as the doors to her house via the security system app she has on her phone, connecting to her house. As Tara's about to text Amber about this, she is then startled by getting another phone call from the landline before Amber's text is shown to change and states she should answer it, much to Tara's confusion and fear. Tara then texts Amber how she knew her landline was ringing before then receiving texts claiming its not Amber texting her and to answer the phone, as Tara's mood changes as she heads to answer it.
Tara tries to ignore the call, and answers it after trying to call the cops and receiving yet another text, madly believing its Amber, but the killer disagrees, and who sends her a video of her best friend, Amber Freeman, with the killer outside and their knife in hand, and who claims she shouldn't have left her phone laying around for anyone to clone, thus how they're contacting her, revealing that he'll kill her if she doesn't play his game. Tara plays along and she is forced to answer continued trivia questions about the Stab movies, specifically the first. She loses on a question when she forgets to mention that Stu Macher was also a killer in the original, and the Killer then breaks into her house as Tara heads outside with a kitchen knife she grabs to arm herself to head for Amber before Ghostface (supposedly Richie helping Amber, before switching to call and taunt Tara again) appears at the door as she opens it and who frightens her as she screams, and slashes Tara through her stomach.
Tara punches the killer instinctively and proceeds to push on the front door as Ghostface tries to hesitantly get in, with the knife in his hand, before Tara manages to succeed in briefly keeping the killer out and locking her door as Ghostface rattles the doorknob trying to get in as Tara grabs her phone on one hand and inspects her wound, grabbing her torso, before she then again locks her house doors via her phone on her home security app and an alert shows on the app that the police have been contacted due to Tara pressing upon locking it via the app. Tara then calls out for the killer as she picks up her knife, warning them that the police are on their way, as Ghostface in the front door hassles by pounding on the door before stopping.
Then, Tara is taunted as her home security system unlocks the door as the killer (Amber most likely) hacks through her app as Tara begins to make her way walking fearfully back as she begins to get desperate and now highly frightened as she then locks the doors continuously as the killer unlocks them, ultimately stopping before she is then startled by the landline ringing as she heads into her kitchen and puts her phone away in her back pocket. With the knife in her hand and phone in the other, Tara answers as the killer then menacingly taunts Tara if she thought the killer made it inside her house before she could re-arm, before Ghostface now appears entering from behind, grabbing Tara and stabbing her again on her stomach. Tara then again, fights the killer, now closely, as the killer pushes Tara down to the floor and Tara kicks them.
Tara tries to flee, but the killer (soon revealed to be Amber) breaks her leg and then stabs her seven times before being interrupted by the police. Tara is taken to hospital, and the next day Samantha returns to Woodsboro, California when she is called by Tara's friend, Wes Hicks. Sam visits Tara in the hospital and the two make amends. However, this is short-lived, as Samantha gets a call from Ghostface (Amber), taunting her over the knowledge that "he" knows her little secret. Sam then reveals to her younger sister she is the daughter of Billy Loomis, and this causes a rift between the two again.
Tara is moved to a private hospital floor and room after Sam's attack, initiated by Sheriff Judy Hicks. However, she is left unattended by the Deputies, and one named Deputy Keith, her assigned post-guard is throat slashed by Ghostface. As a result of this, Ghostface breaks into the hospital to finish her off. Tara attempts to flee and is temporarily "saved" by Richie Kirsch, Samantha's boyfriend.
However, Ghostface (Amber) knocks him "unconscious" and then uses Tara's phone to call Samantha and force her to choose between Richie or Tara. Samantha and Dewey Riley arrive at the hospital and shoot at Ghostface/Amber. As Sam, Richie and Tara leave, Dewey stays behind to finish off the killer, meeting his maker. However, Dewey is killed in the process. As a result, Sam decides it's time to leave Woodsboro and she, Richie and Tara drive off.
As they leave, Richie steals Tara's inhaler in secret. Having lost her inhaler, she asks them to stop at Amber's to get a spare one, unaware that Amber's house is 261 Turner Lane, the house formerly belonging to Stu Macher. Amber and Tara go off to get the inhaler. When Mindy Meeks-Martin is attacked, a fight breaks out amongst the group and Amber reveals herself as a killer. Liv, tired of being accused, yells that she is not the killer, and Amber says, "I know" before whipping out a gun to shoot her in the head. As everyone stands in horror, they disperse from her. As everyone dispersed, Tara grabs Amber’s arm and they scuffle.
Off-screen, Amber ties Tara up, tapes her mouth shut, and traps her in a closet.
Richie, now revealing himself as the second killer, attempts to make Sam doubt Tara. Unbeknownst to them, Samantha has untied Tara, and she threatens Richie and Amber before killing Amber. Tara attacks Amber with her crutches and cries while doing so. Strangely, Amber does not use excessive force as with her other victims, as she just kicks Tara when recovering to her feet, throws her into the walls and throws her over the couch seemingly knocks her unconscious rather than killing her.
Gale Weathers and Sidney Prescott, who have tracked Tara's sister down to 261 Turner Lane, are injured and cornered by Amber amidst this. After Sidney and Gale co-team to set Tara's former friend on fire with a burning stove in the kitchen, they rejoin Samantha in the living room area. After Richie is stabbed multiple times to death in defense by her sister, Gale, Sidney and Samantha take a look at the bloodshed around them.
Amber, however, is half-burnt to crisp and rises, screaming with a knife as she launches an attack on the three individuals. Amber charges towards them only to be expertly shot directly in the head by Tara, whom regain consciousness after Amber's attack. As reporters dish on the murders, Tara is loaded into the back of an ambulance for her injuries, and she leaves with Samantha. (In a humorous-to-the-audience way, she asks to go to a different hospital.)
Aftermath[]
After recovering and graduating from Woodsboro High, Tara enrolls at Blackmore University and moves to New York City with Mindy and Chad, who are also attending. Sam follows Tara and the sisters rent an apartment and find a roommate in Quinn Bailey, a fellow Blackmore student. Subsequently, Tara cuts off her mother after she cuts off Sam for revealing the truth about Billy Loomis to Tara.
The New York Ghostface Murders[]
Tara attends a Halloween frat party, along the way crossing paths with Jason Carvey who had just murdered professor, Laura Crane, with Chad, Mindy, Mindy's girlfriend, Anika Kayoko, and Chad's roommate and friend, Ethan Landry. Tara meets a student named Frankie who invites her into his room to do fireball shots, but knowing the student is bad news, Chad intervenes and gets into a physical altercation which is ended when Sam arrives at the party and tases the student in the testicles.
On the way back to their apartment, Tara argues with Sam about Sam helicoptering over her and asks her to leave her alone and give her space. When they get back to their apartment, Quinn apologises to Tara for telling Sam about where she was and Chad comforts Tara (who thanks him for not letting her go with Frankie) and confesses his feelings to her. When they lean in to kiss, Quinn barges into the room looking for her phone, interrupting them.
A news report relays the news of Jason's murder and Quinn calls her dad, NYPD Detective Wayne Bailey, who informs Sam that her drivers license was found at the murder scene and that he needs her to come down to the station. As Sam leaves, Tara follows her and Sam instructs her to go back but Tara refuses and continues with her. Along the way, Sam gets a call from Richie's old phone number and when she answers the sisters are taunted by Ghostface who then emerges from an alley.
The sisters evade him and run into a bodega, however he follows them in and murders multiple customers and then the owner who tried shooting him. Ghostface takes control of the owner's shotgun and tries to kill the sisters but the police arrive before he can. They are then interviewed by Wayne at the police station where it is revealed that a mask found at Jason's murder scene tested positive with DNA matching Richie. The interview is interrupted by the arrival of FBI Agent, and former Woodsboro survivor, Kirby Reed. Wayne then confirms that a mask left behind at the Bodega contained DNA matching Jill Roberts and Charlie Walker, the killers in the 2011 Woodsboro Murders.
Tara and Sam plan to leave town but Wayne tells them that isn't possible as they are suspects in a murder investigation. When the sisters leave the police station they are ambushed by reporters, including Gale who has since written a book about the ordeal despite the fact that she said she wouldn't. She informs them that Sidney will be staying away from New York and they then argue with her which results in Tara clocking Gale in the face and the sisters leaving in a taxi. They meet up with Mindy and the rest of the group and Mindy discusses the rules of this "sequel to the requel".
The group agree to stay together for the night, when Mindy teases Tara and Chad over their feelings and Chad nicknames the survivors the "core four". Tara makes amends with Sam and Sam then reveals that she is dating Danny Brackett, their neighbor. Ghostface attacks the group in the apartment, murdering Quinn, her hookup and Anika in the process, and Tara and Chad are able to flee downstairs whilst the others are forced to climb over a ladder between their apartment and Danny's. The next morning, Gale makes amends with the group and takes them, along with Wayne and Kirby, to an old theatre owned by Jason which has been turned into a Ghostface shrine.
Tara bonds with Kirby about trying to lead a normal life after being a survivor of a Ghostface killing spree. Later, Wayne devises a plan to track down Ghostface by having Tara and Sam walk together in a park to get his attention with a phone call whilst Kirby tracks them down. When they discover that Ghostface is at Gale's penthouse, Tara and Sam steal Wayne's police car and race to her apartment where they interrupt Ghostface as he is attacking Gale. Before passing out, Gale asks them to tell Sidney that he never got her.
Tara comes up with a plan to lure Ghostface in and execute him and Wayne tells them that they should use the theatre for this plan and to travel there in public, where Kirby will be waiting for them. After getting separated on the subway, Chad, Sam, Tara and Danny arrive at the theatre where Sam sends Danny away. Mindy is attacked on another subway and Ethan takes her to the hospital.
Whilst preparing for Ghostface's arrival, Wayne calls the group and tells them that Kirby was fired from the FBI two months ago because of her mental state. After Chad and Tara finally kiss, the group is ambushed by Ghostface, who stabs Tara in the back. Sam, Tara and Chad fight Ghostface off, and whilst giving Sam and Tara a chance to run, Chad is attacked by two Ghostface's and left for dead. Sam and Tara prepare to fight, but then Kirby re-emerges and reveals that the two Ghostface's ambushed her and knocked her out.
Wayne then arrives and shoots Kirby, revealing himself as the new killer. The two Ghostface's take off their masks, revealing Ethan and Quinn underneath who are Wayne's kids and the brother and sister of Richie. The trio are all seeking revenge against Sam for killing Richie. Sam and Tara evade the killers and flee to the upstairs of the theatre to try and escape but Tara slips off the railing. Sam holds onto her but Tara tells Sam she has to let her go. Sam gives Tara Billy's old knife that she took from the display case in the shrine and lets Tara go.
Tara then stabs Ethan in the mouth and tells him he'll die a virgin. After Sam kills Quinn with a gunshot to the head, she and Wayne fall over the railing to the ground. When Wayne comes to, he gets a call from Sam using the Ghostface voice and then she then comes out behind him wearing Billy's old mask and robe and stabs him to death using Billy's knife, with Tara's approval. Ethan tries one last time to kill them but Kirby crushes his skull using the same TV that killed Stu Macher.
Danny then arrives with reinforcements from the NYPD and reveals that Gale and Mindy are still alive and recovering. As the killings come to an end once more, Tara and Sam help Kirby into an ambulance and Tara cries when she realises Chad is dead. However, the paramedics announce that they have a live one and Chad is wheeled out, still alive, leading to Tara kissing him in happiness. He gets into an ambulance with Mindy, who has since arrived, and they go to the hospital. With the killings now over, and Gale confirmed alive, Tara, Sam and Danny walk away from the theatre, with Sam dropping Billy's old mask behind her and leaving him behind.
Abilities[]
- Improvised Weapon Proficiency: Tara has shown to be capable of using any inanimate objects for improvised weaponry. As shown in the hospital when the lights went off, she uses a telephone to call for help but instead ended up swinging it at Richie then after going to the house party when being confronted by the new Ghostfaces she ambushed Amber with the use of her crutch. During Scream VI, she even manages to use a brick to hit Quinn straight to the mouth which broke her teeth as well as proficiency in wielding a knife to stab Ethan in his mouth briefly killing him before Kirby finished the latter.
- Physical Strength: Her physical strength is impressive as she was able to kick off Amber back against the counter and during the sequel, punches Gale in the face causing a bruise as well as kicking one of the Ghostfaces in the chin briefly dazed.
- High Intelligence: Tara is shown to have great wits in thinking of strategy to help defend against threats. Demonstrated when she calls Wayne Bailey to lure Ghostface to the theater as a secured location to trap the killer, reveal the identity with the cameras in the building, and execute the figure not only that but she even came up with a quick idea for Sam to pass her the knife in her pocket to stab Ethan Landry while her sister deals with Quinn after she lets her fall which successfully defeated the killers.
- Gunmanship: At the end of Scream 5, she had excellent skill in shooting with a firearm. After Sam, Sidney, and Gale shot Richie they turned behind to see that Amber was burned and about to stab them until she gets fatally shot in the head by Tara using a pistol.
- Peak Human Resilience: In both the new Screams, Tara displays a high tolerance to pain as she endures so much and can continue to be active. In Scream 5, she first gets sliced in the stomach by Amber at the front door before she ambushes her by sneaking inside the house from behind and stabs her again including through her hand until she kicks her off to slowly crawl towards the front door only to have her leg broken by the latter before the police arrived in time to save and give her medical attention. Later on when Amber goes to the hospital to get after Tara whose physical endurance aids in getting herself onto a wheelchair and move the wheel near the elevator on her own despite her left hand being injured and bleeding. She even survives getting thrown across the floor by Amber long enough to help save her sister, along with Sidney and Gale. In Scream VI, she also gets stabbed in her back and was still capable of functioning to run and fight against the three Ghostface as well as resists falling 1 storied below the theater floor and knife strike to the stomach by Ethan only to briefly kill him.
Murders Committed[]
- Amber Freeman: Mercilessly shot the latter in the head after attempting to stab the other survivors.
- Ethan Landry: Self-defense mercilessly impales a knife in the latter's mouth and savagely twists it till blood drips out before she immediately pulls it to cause him to cough out blood, supposedly ending his life till Kirby crushes him with a tv set on his head to finish him off.
Trivia[]
- So far in the franchise, Tara is the only person who didn't die in an opening scene.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- Tara Carpenter on the Scream Wiki
- Tara Carpenter on the Near Pure Good Wiki
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